Needs
With our experience your support will reach efficiently the beneficiaries with a significant impact.
To ensure the continuity of psycho-social support
The obstacles that stand in the way of better health for women are not primarily technical or medical in nature. They are social and political if women are denied a chance to develop their full human potential, including their potential to lead healthier and at least somewhat happier lives, is society as a whole really healthy? What does this say about the state of social progress in the 21st century?
Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, 09/11/09
1. Summary
At the time of the handover of the SEAD HIV/AIDS project to the national programme (NCHADS), the psycho-social component of our comprehensive approach to the People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHAs) is threaten of disappearance by lack of funding, despite its critical importance to ensure a proper adherence to medical follow up and to treatment by providing a sufficient support taking into account patient environment.
Still more than 80% of our new patients reach our centre at a very advanced stage of the disease. This is true not only for HIV epidemics but also for Reproductive Health, Infectious Diseases such as Tuberculosis and non communicable diseases that are dramatically neglected in terms of prevention and care. Moreover, women are the main victims of this matter of fact, as lone head of family. Fortified by our experience and our network in psycho social support, we would like in a second time enter some identified communities to get more detailed information about them and better needs assessment of their female population. These will allow us to collaborate closer with them to improve their access to health prevention and care by alleviating environmental constraints they face in their daily life.
2. Rationale
SEAD team is involved in the fight against the Cambodian HIV epidemics since its beginning by running prevention and care projects across the Kingdom. We have a long experience to provide medical care and psycho-social support towards the Cambodian PLHAs, especially vulnerable and Most at Risk ones. In the meantime, we have worked in collaboration with different governmental international institutions, especially the Ministry of Health and the NCHADS, and we have set up a network of NGOS and Home-Based Care teams.
As part of the comprehensive approach developed by SEAD to improve the quality of life of PLHAs, the psycho-social support is composed of counseling, social support, drug education, peer education and support group activities.
By referring to the low rate of lost to follow up and the high proportion of patients having a good adherence since the beginning of the project, the psycho-social support can be considered as effective and relevant. Through different evaluations of the quality of the services, patients reported to be very satisfied by these ones, but to be still in need of greater socio-economic support.
Unfortunately, at the time of the project handover to the NCHADS in September 2010, this department will be dramatically minimized (mainly due to financial constraint leading the national programme to prioritize the funding of the medical care at the detriment of the psychosocial support). Thus, the quality of the services delivered will decrease and might impact the PLHA quality of life, threatening adherence to ART and to proper medical follow up. Consequently, the national programme encouraged SEAD to pursue its psychosocial activities in complement of its medical ones, aware of the importance of this component.
3. Needs in figures
To ensure the continuity of psycho-social support in 2011 there is a financial need for:
Staff (counselors, social workers, cookers…) 44 000 USD /year
Training (study tours, support group meetings) 21 000 USD /year
Living support (food and transportation) for the most vulnerable 53 000 USD /year
Administration and running costs 22 000 USD /year
TOTAL 140 000 USD /year
In total, with only 12 000 USD per month (9 000 Euros) a population of 3000 patients (and their families) are supported to ensure access and adherence to medical care, adequate nutrition and improvement of quality of life.
The project can be enhanced by adding microcredit activities, by supporting additional NGOs of PLHA making handicrafts (network, design, e-shopping), by reaching more vulnerable populations in suburb communities and help them to get crucial services (medical, legal, psychosocial).
To ensure the continuity of Magazine Publication
Funding is secured until December 2010. From then SEAD is seeking new financial supports to pursue Rubrumknea magazine which has shown an undeniable interest for the HIV patients and populations at risk. This interest has been clearly demonstrated through a satisfaction survey conducted among readers in 10 different NGOs: the general impression after reading is very positive, the proposed topics are seen as interesting (especially health education) and the majority of readers recommend the reading of Rubrumknea magazine. Furthermore 98% of the interviewees found that the magazine improved their condition of life and their knowledge on HIV/Aids.
It was also demonstrated that PLHA appreciated to have their own publication dealing with their health and everyday life problems, providing answers to their questions, giving them an opportunity to share experience with others and to improve their knowledge, awareness, self-support and living condition.
These results are surely the most important of the survey because it brings a justification of the existence of such kind of publication and its impact within the PLHA community in Cambodia.
To ensure the continuity of Rubrumknea magazine in 2011 there is a financial need for:
Staff (Editor-in-Chief, designer, journalists, distribution officer) 70 000 USD /year
Printing and Distribution 60 000 USD /year
Administration and running costs 10 000 USD /year
TOTAL 140 000 USD /year
Thus, if any person, organisation, institution, foundation is interested to support this project, please contact us.